It’s time to throw out all your old HDMI cables because HDMI 2.1 is coming. The HDMI Forum have revealed more specifics for their new HDMI connector, which was announced back in January.

HDMI 2.1 essentially the end of normal HDMI. It just can’t compete with the resolution rates, and without support for HDR, we can confidently say that normal HDMI will be dead sooner rather than later. Just look at the HDMI 2.1: It supports resolutions up to 10K and Dynamic HDR.

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There’s also supposed to be a noticeably higher bandwidth with the new connector; it will support 48 Gbps with a backwards-compatible ultra high speed HDMI cable. In addition, there’s said to be more support for faster refresh rates for high video resolution: 60 Hz for 8K and 120 Hz for 4K. 10K and Dynamic HDR also said to be supported for commercial and specialty productions.

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The cable introduces a new refresh rate, VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), that’s reported to reduce or eliminate lag, which most likely will benefit gamers with smoother gameplay. They may also benefit from its Quick Frame Transport (QFT), which should reduce latency. It also is said to include Auto Low Latency Mode that lets you set your latency.

Here’s a chart the clearly shows the upgrades that the 2.1 has over previous HDMI connections:

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HDMI Forum says that “the HDMI 2.1 Compliance Test Specification (CTS) will be published in stages during Q1-Q3 2018, and HDMI adopters will be notified when it is available.”

For a little more about the HDMI 2.1, check out a good summary from The Tech Chap.

https://youtu.be/Ui5tCLvr_kc

And you can learn specifics about the HDMI 2.1 at HDMI Forum's website.

Sean Berry is Videomaker's Managing Editor.